Shutdown Corner NFL Power Rankings: The Saints are good, just not good enough

New Orleans is a very good football team. But Monday night proved they're not better than the Seahawks. That's a problem, considering the road to the Super Bowl will go through Seattle.

You won't often see one team completely dominate another good team like the Seahawks did to the Saints on Monday night. It's hard to imagine the Saints changing so much before the playoffs that they could flip it around and win at Seattle in January.

"Everything went wrong," Saints tight end Jimmy Graham said.

And, of course, the incredibly one-sided loss brings up more questions about the Saints' ability to win outside the Superdome. New Orleans has lost to the Jets on the road, and needed a miracle to pull out a road win against the lowly Buccaneers (though, it should also be noted the Patriots needed a miracle to beat the Saints in Foxboro). They're just 3-3 on the road this season. Quarterback Drew Brees was questioned about that after Monday's game, and had a surprisingly thorough answer ready.

"I would say the statistics don't lie," Brees said. "Since 2009 we have the most wins on the road of any team in the NFL, period. Since 2006 we have the second most behind only the New England Patriots. So if you just look at that nobody has really done their research."

Maybe something changes before the Saints and Seahawks would square off again. A key injury, an upset by someone else (Carolina?) before the Saints have to come back to Seattle would alter things. But it would take a huge turnaround for the Saints to come back here and win a rematch. Even though the Saints are still one of the best teams in the NFL, the gap between them and No. 1 is pretty large.

Here are this week's power rankings:

32. Houston Texans (2-10, LW: 32) I’d assume Teddy Bridgewater will be watching their game on Thursday night at Jacksonville with a lot of interest.

31. Washington Redskins (3-9, LW: 29) It has been a while since I’ve seen a good player totally melt down and cost his team a game like Pierre Garcon did on Sunday.

30. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-9, Last week: 31) Good win at Cleveland. There’s a lot of interesting pieces in place. But they still desperately need a quarterback.

29. Atlanta Falcons (3-9, LW: 30) They deserve credit for not mailing in their season, which it looked like they were doing two weeks ago.

27. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-9, LW: 27) Think about how they won at Detroit. Now consider how they got absolutely destroyed at Carolina a week later. Keep those two games in mind if we end up with Carolina at Detroit in a wild-card game.

25. Oakland Raiders (4-8, LW: 25) I think this coaching staff has done a pretty good job, on the whole. They deserve another year.

24. Green Bay Packers (5-6-1, LW: 19) Considering 9-6-1 won’t get them in the playoffs (the Lions schedule is too weak for them to blow the North, and Carolina and San Francisco are going to be the wild cards), just shut Aaron Rodgers down.

23. New York Giants (5-7, LW: 26) Someone, anyone, explain to me why that putrid Sunday night game wasn’t flexed out. I get it, two big markets for ratings, but that doesn’t mean we should all suffer.

22. Buffalo Bills (4-8, LW: 24) That’s what happens when you sell out your home-field advantage for Toronto games. They probably beat the Falcons on Sunday if the game was at Buffalo and not on a neutral field.

21. New York Jets (5-7, LW: 21) Are the Jets quarterbacks awful because of their terrible receivers, or are the receivers terrible because of the awful quarterbacks? I’ll let the philosophy majors handle that one.

20. St. Louis Rams (5-7, LW: 22) There’s still a chance the Redskins’ pick they own from the Robert Griffin III trade will be first overall. It’ll be a high pick no matter if it’s first or not, and it better be used on a quarterback.

19. Tennessee Titans (5-7, LW: 18) They played fairly well against the Colts, they’re just not there yet. A more dynamic offense will help.

18. San Diego Chargers (5-7, LW: 14) They needed to beat the Bengals at home on Sunday. Now they might need to do something like win at Denver to get to the playoffs.

17. Pittsburgh Steelers (5-7, LW: 15) Three home games left, and a road game at Green Bay that may or may not include Aaron Rodgers. We haven't heard the last of them.

16. Miami Dolphins (6-6, LW: 17) The next three weeks are at Pittsburgh, home vs. New England and at Buffalo. And if they finish in a head-to-head tie with Baltimore, the Ravens have the tiebreaker. Tough road to the playoffs.

15. Baltimore Ravens (6-6, LW: 20) The Tennessee and San Diego losses on Sunday were big for them. The 5-6 quagmire before last week has turned into Miami and Baltimore tied at 6-6. And I think I’d take Baltimore among those two.

14. Chicago Bears (6-6, LW: 13) Sometimes, a NFL coach makes a decision so bad even folks sitting on their couch at home immediately understand it's wrong. Settling for a 47-yard field goal attempt on second down in overtime is an example.

13. Dallas Cowboys (7-5, LW: 16) I’m rooting for them to make the playoffs because their great offense/no defense combo would make for a fun game. Doesn't it feel like it would be a 38-35 game with Tony Romo holding the ball at the end?

12. Indianapolis Colts (8-4, LW: 12) Over the last five weeks, name one thing this team is doing at an elite level. Even Andrew Luck looks worn down from getting hit every pass attempt.

11. Arizona Cardinals (7-5, LW: 9) On the bright side, Michael Floyd has turned into a star at receiver. Unfortunately, Floyd’s emergence might make it easier for them to trade the immensely popular Larry Fitzgerald.

10. Detroit Lions (7-5, LW: 11) Big weekend for them, as they now have a huge edge in the NFC North. But they’re going to play Carolina, New Orleans or San Francisco in the playoffs, so don’t expect much.

9. Philadelphia Eagles (7-5, LW: 10) See that last sentence about the Lions? Well, it applies here too, if they win the East. But the takeaway from this season is that Chip Kelly’s offense should be great once it accumulates better talent.

8. Kansas City Chiefs (9-3, LW: 7) Nothing wrong with Sunday’s loss, and not a surprise either. They’re not as good as the elite teams. A 9-0 start against bad teams didn’t change that. But I still like them over Indy in round one.

7. Cincinnati Bengals (8-4, LW: 8) Andy Dalton is like Tony Romo in that people wait for any reason to rip him, but the truth is, he hasn’t played well for a few weeks. He’s capable of playing better. We’ll see which Dalton shows up in January.

6. San Francisco 49ers (8-4, LW: 6) There’s a big drop from No. 6 to No. 7. It take a lot of convincing to talk me into the Chiefs, Bengals, Lions or whoever as a Super Bowl contender. But the 49ers are good enough to be in that elite class.

5. New Orleans Saints (9-3, LW: 3) I feel like moving them down this far is a bit of an overreaction, because the Seahawks are just that good. We'll reassess them after Sunday night.

4. New England Patriots (9-3, LW: 5) It's great to see Tom Brady back to his old form again, but let's not forget that the defense gave up 31 points to a Texans team that barely scored two field goals against the Jaguars a week earlier.

3. Carolina Panthers (9-3, LW: 4) I like teams that blow out every bad team they play. The Panthers have done that consistently, at least since Week 4.

2. Denver Broncos (10-2, LW: 2) Cornerback Champ Bailey is 35 and the Broncos had him on the bench during Kansas City’s final drive Sunday. But mark this down: He’ll make one enormous play in the playoffs.

1. Seattle Seahawks (11-1, LW: 1) Absolutely no question after that win. A Broncos-Seahawks Super Bowl would be quite the show, don't you think?